Startup investor Dave McClure isn't slowing down, despite changes in the public markets and the skeptical reception his venture firm 500 Startups has received among U.S. institutional investors.

Now, Mountain View, Calif.-based 500 Startups has closed its third global fund, at $85 million, 15% below its original target, after more than a year and a half of bumpy fundraising, Mr. McClure told VentureWire.

The number of limited partners in its funds is approaching 500, Mr. McClure said. They include Tokyo-based Dentsu Inc., Yahoo Japan and Malaysia Venture Capital Management Berhad, a venture firm backed by the Malaysian government. But large U.S. limited partners, such as pension funds, endowments and funds-of-funds, shied away.

“It wasn't an easy road,” Mr. McClure said, speaking by phone from Bahrain, where he was on business with plans to travel to Kazakhstan among other countries in the next two weeks. U.S. institutions took exception with the firm’s "index fund" approach to venture capital and the small stakes it takes in companies, among other reasons, Mr. McClure said.

The fundraising experience isn’t turning 500 Startups’ pace of fundraising or investing down, however. The firm, which Mr. McClure co-founded with Christine Tsai, is already eyeing raising two larger funds, a fourth global fund and a growth fund, of about $200 million each, according to a person familiar with the plans.

All three of 500 Startups’ main funds had a net investment rate of return of more than 20%, according to the firm, as of the end of the second quarter. Its second fund appears to be outperforming industry averages, for example. The firm’s 1,200 portfolio companies include such startups as Credit Karma Inc., Intercom Inc., Twilio Inc., Talkdesk Inc. and Udemy. It plans to invest in some 350 to 400 startups this year, Mr. McClure said.

“I just wish institutional investors paid more attention to IRRs and performance and less to how much I dress in T-shirts,” Mr. McClure said.

For more on 500 Startups plans and history, please read the full story in VentureWire.

Write to Yuliya Chernova at yuliya.chernova@wsj.com. Follow her on Twitter at @ychernova.